Education in Sweden

Sweden – education

An actual school system in Sweden dates back to 1842, when Charles XIV Johan ordered every parish to establish a school. The seven-year peasant school, which had no connection to the higher educations, functioned for a long time side by side with the cities’ Latin schools, which through the matriculation examination gave access to the higher educations.

In 1962, it was decided to introduce a nine-year compulsory school, which was completed over a nine-year period. At the same time, the first curricula were drawn up, which have since been renewed in 1969, 1980 and 1994. From 1998, the system also includes a non-compulsory one-year pre – school for 6-year-olds; it is followed by almost everyone. 2.7% of primary school pupils go to private schools (1998).

However, the biggest reforms have taken place in the upper secondary school, which from 1971 became a unitary upper secondary school with both general and vocational educations. Since the mid-1980’s, in addition to extensive decentralization, significant content reforms of teaching have been implemented, and in 1991 the many high school courses were combined into 16 national programs, all containing the basic subjects Swedish or Swedish as a second language, English, social studies, religion, mathematics, science., sports and health as well as creative activities; subjects that are characteristic of the individual program are optional subjects.

The high school is followed by approximately 98% of the students who complete the compulsory schooling (1998), and are completed by approximately 80%. approximately 37% continue on to higher education (1994). 3% of high school students go to private schools (1998). Both elementary and high school are free and without final exams; instead, from 5th grade onwards, an evaluation system with centrally placed tests is used.

The higher education, which is largely a state responsibility, and to which the upper secondary school’s general lines provide access, takes place at 13 universities and 23 higher education institutions (2000). The oldest, also in the Nordic countries, is Uppsala University from 1477.

The general adult education follows largely the same pattern as in Denmark. It includes long and short course in general and creative arts, taking place at folkhögskolar, while a more leisure-oriented activity is carried out by studieförbund. A growing sector is Komvux, municipal adult education, providing primary and secondary powers. In addition labor market training who have vocational purposes.

ETYMOLOGY: of Svea kingdom

OFFICIAL NAME: Kingdom of Sweden

CAPITAL CITY: Stockholm

POPULATION: 9,995,153 (Source: COUNTRYaah)

AREA: 449,960 km²

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE (S): Swedish, Sami, Finnish, others

RELIGION: Lutherans 84%, Muslims 3%, Catholics 2%, Pentecostal Christians 1%, Orthodox 1%, other Christians 2%, unknown el. no 7%

COIN: krona

CURRENCY CODE: SEC

ENGLISH NAME: Sweden

POPULATION COMPOSITION: Swedish citizens 96%, others (especially Finns, Norwegians, Danes and other Europeans) 4%

GDP PER residents: $ 29,532 (2007)

LIFE EXPECTANCY: men 78 years, women 83 years (2007)

INDEX OF LIVING CONDITIONS, HDI: 0.951

INDEX OF LIVING CONDITIONS, POSITION: 5

INTERNET DOMAIN NAME: .see

Sweden is a kingdom in northern Europe, which includes the eastern and southern part of the Scandinavian Peninsula. In the time of great power in the 1600’s. Sweden also included a large part of the countries around the Baltic Sea and was ruled by a pronounced centralism, which is still noticeable and marked in Stockholm’s powerful architecture. The distinctiveness, traditions and self-awareness of the regions are clear, however; there are more than geographical differences between Norrbotten and Skåne.

• AbbreviationFinder.org: Find two-letter abbreviation for each independent country and territory, such as SE which stands for Sweden.

With the historical efforts of the labor movement in the 1900’s. and with the capital-intensive large-scale operation, living conditions changed, and now the previously strongly class-divided Sweden is considered a leader among the Nordic welfare democracies. The country is known for modern and advanced industry and for Scandinavian style and design, by virtue of effective cultural marketing abroad. Since 1995, Sweden has been a member of the EU, but like Denmark and the United Kingdom is outside the EU’s Economic and Monetary Union.

Sweden – plant life

Plant geographically, Sweden can be divided into four regions.

In the deciduous forest region in Scania, Blekinge and along the west coast approximately to Gothenburg, there is beech forest and other deciduous forest of western and central European type, partly with rich herbaceous vegetation of golden nettle, hollow rooted larch spores, large flat star, binged grass, etc.

The southern coniferous forest region approximately to a line between Vänern and Gävle has mixed forest with Scots pine, spruce and various deciduous trees such as oak, ash, elm and birch, but not beech. In the forest floor, blueberries and cranberries are often common, and mosses are prominent.

The northern coniferous forest region north of the line between Vänern and Gävle is poorer in species and more uniform, most often dominated by spruce and in dry places Scots pine; deciduous tree species are birch, aspen, common rowan and willow willow. Large areas are swampy and characterized by marshes and raised bogs, where, among other things. grows cloudberries, carnations and various star species.

In the lower mountain region from western Dalarna to northern Lapland, ie. west and north of the coniferous forest region, there are 3-6 m high forest, completely dominated by mountain birch, a regional breed of downy birch. In moist, nutrient-rich places, tall, large-leafed herbs such as forest stork beak and meadow plum occur. Above the birch zone, the vegetation is characterized in most places by willow bushes and other dwarf shrubs such as revelry and mulberry rice. Snow beds, where the snow first melts in the summer, have separate plant communities.

The first two regions are considered to be the Central European flora area, the last two to be the subarctic. Only a few species are widespread throughout the country, and a distinction can be made between several different types of distribution, where the species often have a specific northern or southern border. Furthermore, some species, such as bell heather, are western or subatlantic, while others, such as bog mail and forest wheat, are eastern or Baltic.

In Sweden there are approximately 1600 wild-growing species of vascular plants, not including apomictic (see apomiksis) small species of eg hawthorn and dandelion.

Sweden – wildlife

The Swedish fauna is characterized by being relatively varied with both Arctic, Boreal and Central European species. Some mammals like Red fox, stoat, bride, pine marten, squirrel, mountain hare and moose are common in virtually all of Sweden. The moose population is one of Europe’s largest and forms the basis for large-scale hunting every year. Bears and lynx are found scattered, in places quite frequently, while wolverines and especially wolves are rare. The wolf was protected in the 1960’s, and the number is increasing; 89-102 animals were expected in 2004. The beaverwas exterminated in the late 1800’s, but was later reintroduced from Norway and is now widespread. The wild reindeer are no longer found in Sweden, but domestic reindeer are kept in the mountain areas to the north. There are also other Arctic species such as lemming, small kjove, mountain grouse and snowy owls.

The bird life is also characterized by species adapted to coniferous and mixed forests, e.g. bull, low warbler, great crossbill, plaice, three-toed plaice and barn owl. In open forest areas, cranes and watchbirds are found. Sea eagles and golden eagles have been hit hard by pesticides in the environment, which caused the eggs to break. After tightening environmental legislation and being helped by winter feeding, stocks are now rising. Falsterbo in Skåne and Ottenby on Öland are passed every year by a large bird migration. On Gotland there is an isolated population of barnacle geese, an otherwise arctic species; individuals from here have bred on Saltholm.

Among the insects, ospreys (including wasps), bivalves (flies and mosquitoes), beetles and butterflies are the species-dominant groups. In the south takes several amphibians, eg toad, spadefoot toad, tree frog and green frog, their northernmost distribution, whereas common frogs found throughout the country. Lakes and rivers are rich in salmonids, carp, pike, perch and eels. In the Gulf of Bothnia there is a subspecies of ringed seal.

Sweden – language

The national language is Swedish, which is one of the Nordic languages. It is the mother tongue of the vast majority of the population, and only Swedish is nationwide as a public language; since 1995, swedish has also had official language status in the EU.

Of the indigenous population in northern Sweden, approximately 7000 Sami as mother tongue. At the loss of Finland in 1809, Sweden retained a Finnish-speaking minority west of the Torne River, which now includes approximately 50,000, and after 1945, immigration from Finland to other parts of Sweden has brought the number of Finnish-speakers up to approximately 300,000. Even more people understand Finnish, and Finnish surnames are widespread. In some northern municipalities, Sami and/ or Tornedalian Finnish are officially equated with Swedish. With Sweden’s ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Regional and Minority Languages ​​in 2000, Sami, Finnish, Tornedalian Finnish (Meänkieli), Romani and Yiddish all received official status as minority languages.

Immigration has also meant that more than a hundred foreign languages ​​are represented in Sweden. The majority of school children with Swedish as a second language receive extra tuition in their mother tongue. In addition to Swedish, important information about social conditions is also published to varying degrees in minority and immigrant languages.

Sweden – religion

In Sweden, Nordic religion only slowly gave way to Christianity; although the mission began in the 800-900’s, it first conquered approximately 1100. In 1164, Uppsala became the archdiocese, and the country became an independent church province. From the end of the 1200’s, the church was a cultural superpower with considerable independence from the state. The Middle Ages were marked by the opposition between national and international interests; with the introduction of the Reformation, the first, Gustav Vasa severed the connection to Rome in 1524, but only approximately In 1600, the Reformation was completely secured.

Under Gustav II Adolf, Lutheran Orthodoxy was consolidated. In the following centuries, pietism, the Enlightenment, and liberal theology gained a foothold. In the 1800’s. a number of ecclesiastical revivals arose, but also free denominations that became a stronger feature than in neighboring countries.

In addition to the ancient revivals, church and religious life in the 1900’s. characterized by the national church youth church movement, high church and ecumenical currents, new revivals, including charismatic, and theological flourishing characterized by Luther studies and motif research. The Church of Sweden, the Swedish Church, became a state church, since 1863 with its own church meeting to discuss internal matters and the veto until 1982 regarding. state church laws. The Riksdag decided on 4.6.1998 that church and state were separated per. 1.1.2000; The Church of Sweden then consisted of 13 dioceses with 3263 priests and 2527 congregations. Despite secularization, 84.3% of the population were members.

Since religious affiliation is considered a private matter, there is no registration of religion. In 1998, Jewish congregations numbered approximately 20,000 members, Orthodox and Oriental churches approximately 98,000, and the Roman Catholic Church approximately 163,000. The approximate membership numbers for other denominations were in 1999: the Swedish Missionary Association (68,000), the Pentecostal movement (90,000), the Salvation Army (18,000), the Swedish Baptist Society (18,000), the Evangelical Fosterland Foundation (19,000), Nybygget-kristen samverkan (28,000) and Jehovah’s Witnesses (22,000). Among immigrants and refugees, around 250,000 are from Muslim countries (of which about 90,000 are practicing), almost 5,000 Hindus and approximately 15,000 Buddhists (including about 5,000 practitioners).

Sweden – constitution

Sweden constitution consists of the Government Act (1975), the Succession Scheme (1810), the Freedom of the Press Ordinance (1949) and the Freedom of Expression Act (1991); the latter two are based on traditions from the 1700’s. According to the Form of Government, Sweden is a democratic parliamentary state with a restricted monarchy; the role of the monarch has been purely ceremonial since 1975. A constitutional amendment in 1980 of the Succession Scheme stipulated that the monarch’s eldest child is heir to the throne regardless of gender.

Legislative power lies with a unicameral parliament, the Riksdag, with 349 members elected every four years by ordinary election. The Riksdag, whose affairs are arranged by special law, has a well-developed committee structure. Legislation is prepared on the initiative of the government and to a large extent through written consultations, consultations, by various organizations and institutions. The Riksdag has the right to vote in advance on the appointment of the Prime Minister following a proposal from the President, the Speaker. The controlling power of the Riksdag vis-à-vis the government lies with e.g. a constitutional committee that continuously reviews the government’s activities. Parliamentary ombudsmen under the leadership of a Chief Justice Ombudsman, an office from 1809, oversees the activities of the courts and the administration, including in part the municipal administration. A Legislative Council, composed of judges from the supreme courts, must, in principle, give an opinion on the constitutional and legal aspects of all major bills.

The executive power lies with the government headed by a prime minister. Sweden, like most other countries, does not have a ministerial government; it is the government as such and not the individual ministers who issue directives, etc. to the executive agencies under their ministry (department). The ministries prepare the work of the government and have the overall planning and control tasks, while the other administrative bodies, both the central and the regional and local ones, carry out the decisions.

Despite the traditional bloc division, co-operation across political boundaries is common, especially at the municipal level, where the law directly stipulates that the government must be proportionally composed. Only exceptionally does it happen that a party achieves an absolute majority, and in the Riksdag this has not happened since 1968. Cooperation and compromises are therefore a recurring feature in Swedish politics. When the Social Democrats have so often been a governing party, it is largely due to cooperation and alliances with other parties.

Sweden – administration

Central Administration, the central government, has a relatively independent and autonomous position in relation to the government. The regional administration in the 21 counties (counties) consists partly of county administrative boards, headed by a government- appointed governor, which depending on personality and initiative can play a major role in the development of a given county, partly by the popularly elected county councils. For to create better conditions for solving the growing tasks in the education, social and health sectors, Sweden began in the late 1900’s. to merge counties into new large counties. Locally, the country is divided into 289 municipalities (2000). The number must be assumed to increase as a result of a growing local interest in expanded self-government after the great amalgamation of municipalities in 1962-74.

Sweden – economy

Since Sweden was hit by the Great Depression in the early 1930’s, the public sector has played a crucial role in the economy. The so-called folkhemmet, which was introduced by the Social Democratic party chairman Per Albin Hansson in 1928, was to ensure that everyone received uniform social security in the event of, for example, illness and unemployment. In 1938, LO and Arbejdsgiverforeningen SAF entered into a main agreement on labor peace, and the development in the labor market and in social welfare policy was called “the Swedish model”.

The model was expanded in the post-war years, where the main theme of the Social Democrats’ economic policy was to ensure full employment for all and to continue the social reform work. In 1947, a tax reform was implemented, which aimed to ensure both the financing of the welfare state and a redistribution of income and wealth in society. Business remained largely in private hands despite considerable discussion in the 1940’s. The Swedish model experienced its heyday in 1950-73, when economic growth was high, the currency stable, and unemployment low. The public sector expanded sharply, doubling public spending from around 25% of GDP in 1950 to 50% in the mid-1970’s. As the expenditure policy was fully tax-financed, however, the development did not lead to an increase in public sector indebtedness, which was roughly constant at around 20% of GDP. However, the oil crises of the 1970’s combined with weakened international competitiveness led to periods of recession and rising unemployment. Government budget deficits rose dramatically, and by the mid-1980’s public sector debt had risen to almost 70% of GDP.

Sweden’s comprehensive welfare system makes public budgets very sensitive to changes in economic growth. As a result, public budgets also quickly came to a head again when the economy turned again in the mid-1980’s. Nevertheless, developments catalyzed a shift in economic policy. The expansion of the public sector was slowed down, while the international tendency towards liberalization of e.g. the capital and foreign exchange market also spread to Sweden.

Sweden has a small, open economy, which is highly dependent on foreign trade. Thus, the value of foreign trade corresponds to about 70% of GDP. Therefore, the country has traditionally been an advocate for global free trade and practiced this through membership of EFTA and GATT/WTO. Sweden applied for EU membership in 1990 and was admitted in 1995. The great dependence on foreign trade has also meant that exchange rate policy has historically been used as an important economic policy instrument. Thus, the Swedish krona was devalued five times in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, and Sweden has not been involved in monetary cooperation agreements since August 1977, when the country left the snake co-operation. Until May 1991, the Riksbank sought to keep the krone exchange rate stable against a trade-weighted basket of currencies. Thereafter, in the wake of the EU application, the krone was pegged to the ECU, but without Sweden participating in the EMS. At the time, however, the economy was heading into the worst recession since the 1930’s.

Liberalizations in the financial sector had led to a sharp credit expansion, which had largely been provided with real estate collateral. Rising property prices intensified developments and loan-financed consumption exploded. The economy overheated with high inflation and a deteriorating competitiveness and balance of payments deficit as a result. The imbalances led to mistrust in the financial markets over the fixed exchange rate policy, which after fierce speculation had to be abandoned in November 1992. The trade-weighted exchange rate fell by more than 30% until 1995. Interest rates rose sharply in the early 1990’s, which contributed to that property prices fell dramatically. Loans were defaulted and the banking sector came into such a serious crisis that only significant financial support from the state 1991-93 of just over 90 billion. Swedish kr., corresponding to approximately 6% of GDP, could prevent a collapse. The crisis resulted in a marked increase in unemployment from 1.7% in 1990 to 8.2% in 1993 and in a dramatic deterioration in public budgets. Given the uncertain situation, interest rates remained at a high level. The government sought to counter the development by pursuing a stability-oriented economic policy, which should also ensure that Sweden could comply with the EU’s convergence requirements. Fiscal policy was tightened, through cuts in public services and higher taxes, while monetary policy was designed to ensure price stability. Given the uncertain situation, interest rates remained at a high level. The government sought to counter the development by pursuing a stability-oriented economic policy, which should also ensure that Sweden could comply with the EU’s convergence requirements. Fiscal policy was tightened, through cuts in public services and higher taxes, while monetary policy was designed to ensure price stability. Given the uncertain situation, interest rates remained at a high level. The government sought to counter the development by pursuing a stability-oriented economic policy, which should also ensure that Sweden could comply with the EU’s convergence requirements. Fiscal policy was tightened, through cuts in public services and higher taxes, while monetary policy was designed to ensure price stability.

Since 1995, the Riksbank, which was made politically independent in 1997, has thus had an objective of keeping inflation at 2% ± 1%. The exchange rate has fluctuated freely since 1992, but the significant write-down of the Swedish krona paved the way for exports to pull the economy out of the recession. A marked fall in interest rates in the latter half of the 1990’s led to increased investment and private consumption. Economic growth was approximately 4% in 1999 and 2000, almost stalled during the international downturn in 2001, but regained pace in 2005. During this period of growth, unemployment has been just over 5%. However, the low rate of price increase is partly due to the fall in interest rates, as the interest expense on own housing is included in the Swedish consumer price index, just as VAT reductions on food and liberalized electricity and telecommunications prices have helped keep consumer prices down. Public budgets showed deficits in 2002-04, without Sweden exceeding the economic convergence requirements for participation inEMU, but a 2003 referendum opposed the government’s recommendation.

Following the transformation of the traditional commodity-based industrial economy towards a high-tech service society, the Swedish model remains appropriate in terms of a number of policy objectives: growth, welfare and social and geographical equalization of living conditions. As in Denmark, it is now being discussed whether tax financing can ensure the welfare of a growing number of older people. Sweden has solid surpluses on its trade and payments balance.

Sweden’s most important trading partners are the EU, especially Germany, Denmark and the United Kingdom. Sweden is also Denmark’s second largest trading partner (after Germany). Denmark’s exports to Sweden in 2005 were DKK 67.3 billion. DKK, while Denmark’s imports from there were 62.1 billion. The most important Danish exports in 2005 were oil (26%), clothing and pharmaceuticals. Imports included of oil, paper and cardboard as well as mobile phones etc.

Sweden – social conditions

Sweden has an international position as a prominent welfare state. The standard of living is high and the income distribution is relatively even. The social safety net is strongly developed with tight masks and a high level and is based on the public sector. The health service is based on free treatment in public hospitals and public clinics with publicly employed staff. The general social insuranceincludes compensation for loss of income due to illness, maternity, disability, old age and loss of breadwinner, as well as unemployment. The financing is done by the companies paying a certain percentage of the wage sum to the social insurance. The percentage is set by law and in 1999 amounted to more than a third of the wage bill. The company contributions are not posted to an account for the individual employee, and the individual’s rights are therefore independent of the payments.

As a general rule, everyone with permanent residence in Sweden is entitled to the social benefits. At this point, Swedish social insurance differs significantly from the so-called employee insurances, which form the backbone of social security systems in most countries on the European continent. Here, the rights are conditional on the payment of contributions.

Sickness benefits are paid to people who are unable to work. The size of the unemployment benefit depends on how severely the ability to work is reduced, as well as on the size of the person’s normal income. Maternity benefits are provided in the last part of the maternity period. After the birth, so-called parental benefits are granted for a maximum of 450 days. National pensionis granted in full to everyone who has resided in Sweden for at least 40 years, but is reduced if you have lived here for fewer years. You can choose to retire at any time between the ages of 60 and 70, but the size of the pension is different. If you choose to retire at the age of 60, you will only receive 70% of the pension you receive if you wait until the age of 65. If you wait until you turn 70, the pension will be 142% of what you get if you retire at the age of 65. On top of the national pension, employees can receive ATP(allmännatjänstepensionerna), which is a statutory benefit to which companies make statutory contributions. The payments are posted to the individual account, and the payments are in proportion to the payments, so that the business income in the 15 years with the largest income forms the basis for the payment. ATP payments are often significant. Elderly care is, as in Denmark, municipal and includes largely the same services, including nursing homes and home help. Check youremailverifier for Sweden social condition facts.

Sweden – health conditions

Sweden has for some years had the highest life expectancy in the Nordic countries. In 2006, it was 78.8 years for men and 83.1 years for women. The country also has the lowest infant mortality rate of 4.1 per capita. 1000 live births in 2000.

The mortality pattern is, as in other industrialized countries, with cardiovascular disease and cancer being the leading causes of death. In 1996, cardiovascular disease caused per. 100,000 residents 365 deaths in men and 214 in women, almost as in Denmark and as here with a declining trend. In contrast to Denmark, Sweden has had a slightly declining incidence of cancer. Mortality due to accidents and suicide is the lowest in the Nordic countries; the number of suicides has decreased since 1980. Sweden has a significantly lower incidence of AIDS than Denmark; the number of newly diagnosed AIDS cases and deaths has been declining since 1995.

The Swedish healthcare system is decentralized with responsibility for the essential parts of health promotion, prevention and treatment located at county councils and regions. The role of the state is to determine the framework for the health service and to supervise the decentralized company. The municipalities are responsible for the social sector, but have only a limited role in the health area, ie school health services, nursing homes, home help and a lot of home nursing.

The primary health care system includes health centers with general practitioners, centers for mothers and children, public dental care and district nursing. approximately half of all dentists work in private practice, and there are also private physiotherapy clinics and private general practitioners; approximately 25% of all consultations with general practitioners take place in private practice. The legislation stipulates the possibilities for practicing with funding from the county councils.

The hospital system is organized into six treatment regions. In a county (län) there is partly a highly specialized regional hospital, which serves the entire county, and partly less specialized hospitals, which cover part of the county. There are a few private hospitals. The country has a total of 39 beds per. 10,000 residents, slightly less than in Denmark.

In the 1990’s, the hospital system in particular underwent significant savings and rationalisations. During the same period, the majority of the county councils have developed different models, whereby the hospitals have been transformed into providers of health services, which the county councils then buy. This has created a kind of market and thus competition between the hospitals.

In 1996, Sweden spent 7.6% of GDP on health care, which was a decrease of approximately 20% over the course of 15 years, but part of this was due to the transfer of nursing homes from the health to the social sector. By far the largest part of the expenses is covered by taxes to the county councils, supplemented by a small state subsidy. To this must be added the patients’ own payment, which includes an amount for consultation with a doctor and specialist as well as partial payment for medicines.

Converted to full-time positions, there were 181,000 employees in the health service in 1997, of which 76,000 were nurses and 24,000 doctors, corresponding to 27 doctors per year. 10,000 residents, about the same as in Denmark.

Sweden has the highest proportion of non-smokers in the Nordic countries, namely 83% of men and 78% of women. In 1997, the average annual alcohol consumption was 5.9 l, which was half of the Danish.

Sweden – Prohibition Sweden

The restrictive Swedish legislation, especially in connection with harmful consumption, has given rise to the critical term “Prohibition Sweden”. The term probably originated against the background of the restrictive Swedish alcohol policy since the 1920’s. Alcoholic beverages are sold in Sweden only in special state-owned shops (see Brattsystemet and Systembolaget), and until 1955 there were rations on wine and spirits. Swedish alcohol policy has broad political support. However, since Sweden’s accession to the EU in 1995, there has been a softening, and there is much to suggest that Sweden cannot maintain its restrictive policy within the EU.

The term Prohibition Sweden is also used more generally about the many legislative measures aimed at protecting citizens from the harmful effects of smoking, drugs, environmentally hazardous products, unsafe cars, etc. There is broad agreement in Sweden that citizens’ freedom must be guaranteed and threats to the individual individual security and welfare are countered as much as possible. Paradoxically, this can lead to smokers and alcoholics, for example, considering the legislation to restrict freedom. What is perceived as freedom or unfreedom thus depends entirely on the attitude of the viewer.

Sweden – legal system

Sweden belongs together with Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway to the Nordic legal family. Sweden participates in Nordic legal co- operation, but Swedish legislation, like Danish and Finnish, is strongly influenced by EU membership. The country has been a pioneer in consumer protection. An Avtalsvillkorslag för konsumentförhållanden instructs the consumer authority Konsumentverket to monitor the contractors’ terms and conditions and to intervene if they are unreasonable. The Swedish Consumer Purchase Act (Konsumentköplagen) provides the consumer with more far-reaching protection than the Danish Purchase Act. There is also a credit agreement law, legal rules on the protection of consumers who buy or sell real estate, a consumer insurance law and a law on services, eg car repairs.

In Sweden, spouses can get a divorce if they agree to it, and the case does not concern children under 16 years of age. If there are children under the age of 16 in the marriage, they must repeat their first application to the court after a reflection period of six months. A spouse can unilaterally obtain a divorce simply by filing for divorce and repeating the petition after six months of deliberation. The petition is sufficient grounds for divorce; the court does not ask about the cause of the divorce, and swedish law has no rules that a party to get out of a marriage must prove that the other party is to blame for the breakdown.

Disputes are settled by the courts; however, many commercial cases are dealt with by private arbitration. The ordinary courts decide civil disputes between citizens and adjudicate in criminal cases. In the first instance, the case is decided by a district court, whose decisions can be appealed to a court of appeal. The highest court is the Högsta Domstolen, whose permission is required to have a judgment of the Court of Appeal reviewed. This requires that the case has significance in principle or involves the possibility of a change in case law. The ordinary administrative courtssettles disputes between citizens and public authorities, including tax cases and cases concerning driving licenses, building permits, names, etc. The cases are heard by länsrätter, whose decisions can be appealed to one of the four chamber courts. In these cases, the Regeringsrätten is the highest court, which, like the Högsta Domstolen, only hears cases in which a special procedural permit has been granted. Lay judges (nämndemän) participate as co-judges in the first and second instance in family law cases and in criminal cases. There are also special courts for special cases, such as the Labor Court, which mainly decides disputes within collective labor law, and the Market Court, which deals with competition and marketing cases and cases of consumer protection, especially those cases where the Consumer Agency is involved.

Sweden – military

The armed forces are (2006) still adapting to the time after the Cold War. The strength is 27,000. The Army (Army) is at 13,800 with 8600 conscripts, the Navy (Navy) at 7900 with 2000 conscripts and the Air Force (Air Force) 5900 with 1500 conscripts. The reserve is 262,000, with 225,000 for the army, 20,000 for the navy and 17,000 for the air force.

From the former organization in joint military “Military Areas”, the operational management functions are now gathered in one operational command with responsibility for the whole country. The equipment is predominantly Swedish-made and completely modern.

By mobilizing, the army can e.g. establish 6 armored brigades. The fleet has 7 submarines, 36 smaller combat vessels, 1 minesweeper, 21 demining vessels and 120 landing craft incl. three hovercraft. In addition, there is a balanced coastal defense brigade (Amphibious Corps) organized for mobile operations in archipelago areas. The Air Force advises over 170 state-of-the-art fighter jets including the Saab 39 Gripen, 6 warning aircraft, 14 transport aircraft and has assembled the military’s 50 helicopters in the Armed Forces’ helicopter flotilla.

Sweden – trade union movement

The Swedish trade union movement had its real breakthrough in the 1880’s. After the Gothenburg Congress in 1886, the trade unions joined the socialist program. In 1898, the National Organization in Sweden, LO, was formed, working closely with Sweden’s Social Democratic Workers’ Party, SAP; from the year 1900, the local unions could collectively join SAP. In two major strikes in 1902 and 1909, attempts were made to political demands implemented; the conflict in 1909 was a major defeat for the entire labor movement, but the LO recovered over the next decade.

The trade union movement was willing to cooperate with the employers, but only after SAP took over the government in 1932 could a compromise be reached in 1938 between the two main organizations (Saltsjöbadsavtalet).

At the end of 1998, LO had approximately 2.1 million members divided into 19 unions, of which the largest union, Kommunalarbejderforbundet, had about 620,000 members. The LO unions are industrial unions, but mainly organize workers, as there is a border agreement with Tjänstemännens Centralorganisation, TCO, which organizes the salaried employees on the same basis. The co-operation between LO and TCO is facilitated by the fact that both are politically dominated by Social Democrats, without TCO having a permanent co-operation agreement with SAP. TCO emerged in 1937 and has grown significantly in recent decades; in 1999 the organization had approximately 1.2 million members, divided into 18 unions. The third major national organization is the Central Organization of Swedish Academics, SACO, founded in 1947, with approximately 460,000 members (1999), divided into 26 unions. The co-operation between SACO and the other two national organizations is not intensive, as SACO is organized by profession and predominantly organizes public employees. In addition, SACO has no real political connections.

The proportion of women in the professionally organized is around 2000 approximately 50% of all members; In total, more than 85% of all workers are organized, and the Swedish trade union movement thus has the highest percentage of organizations in the industrialized countries. The reason for this must sought in the combined centralist-decentralist organization. LO’s share of the organized has declined since the 1980’s, as industrial restructuring meant a decline in employment in this area, while the public sector continued to grow. Since the 1990’s, SAP and LO have developed partly opposite political-economic models, which have reinforced the contradiction between them. SAP’s Congress in 1987 lifted the collective affiliation to the party with effect from 1991, which has meant that SAP’s membership has fallen from 1.2 million. to approximately 180,000 (2000).

After the great conflict in 1909, a number of workers left LO and set up the syndicalist Swedish Workers’ Central Organization, SAC, which in 1924 had approximately 37,000 members corresponding to approximately 10% of LO’s members. The SAC then organized certain professional groups, but has not been able to maintain its status as a trade union and today operates with almost 9000 members as a liberal pressure group.

Sweden – libraries and archives

The country’s national library is the Royal Library in Stockholm, whose origins go back to book collections from the 1500’s and 1600’s. built by especially Queen Kristina. Uppsala University Libraryand Lund University Library are very important as research libraries and by virtue of their historical collections. The university libraries in Stockholm and Gothenburg are partly based on older existing collections; thus, Stockholm University Library was united in 1978 with the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Library of the Academy of Sciences (grdl. 1739). Gothenburg University Library was a municipal research library from 1890, but was transferred to the university in 1961. 1900’s university libraries, Umeå (grdl. 1948) and Linköping (grdl. 1961), are growing strongly. Among the subject libraries, the technical ones are the largest: the Royal Institute of Technology’s library in Stockholm (d. 1826) and Chalmers University of Technology’s library in Gothenburg (d. 1829). The Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences’ library with headquarters in Uppsala (grdl. 1848) serves colleges in several places in the country. Very important for medical research isKarolinska Institutet’s library and documentation center (grdl. 1810).

Today’s public libraries go back in part to the information activities of the major popular movements, especially the abstention and labor movements. From 1905, state subsidies were granted, which from 1912 were administered by the advisory State Library Agency. Since 1966, only grants have been given to the 24 central libraries (länsbiblioteker) and to common affairs, while the individual libraries are purely municipal institutions, which the old association libraries have gradually merged into. Some länsbiblioteker have historical collections that go back to old diocesan libraries (Linköping, Skara, Västerås, Växjö).

The National Archives in Stockholm, established in 1618 as part of the King’s Chancellery and from 1878 an independent unit, primarily collects material from the central administration, while ten national archives for one or more counties contain material from local and regional state authorities. The state archives, like the many regional and nationwide popular movement archives, e.g. the archives of the labor movement, large collections of private archive material, not least association archives. Sweden does not have a central business archive, but a number of such. Finally, there are many municipal archive institutions.

Sweden – mass media

In Sweden, the regional and local press is strong, as the state has chosen to provide press support to ensure the survival of the print media in the local areas. However, the capital’s press is having a harder time. On the radio and television side, there was initially a monopoly in Sweden, but this monopoly was formally replaced by a duopoly with the establishment of TV4 in 1991. However, the satellite-based TV3 based in London had already broadcast from 1987. Commercial local radio was allowed in 1993, which has given the Swedes a number of private radio stations.

Printed mass media

Sweden’s oldest newspaper, Post- och Inrikes Tidningar, has been published under changing titles since 1645 and can be partly equated with the Danish State Gazette. From 1769, Dagligt Allehanda was published as Sweden’s first daily newspaper; The Anmäraren from 1816 introduced critical and controlling journalism. Aftonbladet, founded in 1830, became the earliest widely popular newspaper, while Dagens Nyheter developed into the country’s largest morning newspaper and the leading omnibus newspaper. In terms of circulation, Expressenhowever, for an extended period leading. It was founded in 1944 and systematically developed through campaign and disclosure journalism into a powerful tabloid newspaper. In general, the tabloid press has been in decline since 1971 because the advent of an increasing number of TV channels has intensified competition in the field of entertainment. With Dagens Industri as the daily newspaper from 1983, the special business newspaper was introduced.

Around 2000, the regional and local press occupy strong positions, as extensive state press support has ensured that survival in most local areas. The strongest is Göteborgs-Posten as the whole of Western Sweden’s daily newspaper and Sydsvenska Dagbladet from Malmö. In general, most local newspapers in the post-war period have expanded their editorial efforts so strongly that, as before, there is no need to keep two newspapers per. household.

Hovedstadspressen has had more difficult conditions. Svenska Dagbladet has only survived by being part of the Norwegian Schibsted Group’s Swedish expansion, which also includes Aftonbladet.

The concentration of ownership within the daily press is far advanced, especially because the Bonnier Group publishes Dagens Nyheter, Expressen, Dagens Industri and Sydsvenska Dagbladet. Only the Schibsted Group can, after newspaper purchases in Sweden, compete with the Bonnier Group.

Since the 1920’s, the national news agency TT (Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå) has taken a dominant position in both national and international reporting, especially for regional and local newspapers. TT works closely with the other Nordic news agencies and has, among other things. joint foreign correspondents and inter-Nordic news exchanges. In 1925-96, TT had its own radio editorial staff, which broadcast telegram news on Swedish Radio, but from 1997 the radio news was only broadcast on commercial stations.

Sweden – visual art

The article deals with Swedish visual art from the 1000’s onwards; for earlier periods, see also Viking Age.

Middle Ages and Renaissance

The earliest stave church decorations in the 1000’s from Hemse and Guldrupe on Gotland bear the mark of pagan Viking ornamentation. Especially in the field of murals and wood and stone sculpture, the visual arts reached a flourishing with influences from southern countries as well as England and Russia.

The Lombard- inspired Romanesque stone sculpture in Lund Cathedral became a guide for several decorations in southern Sweden; significant are a number of Gotland baptismal fonts in stone, by the anonymous master Hegvald, as well as portals. Crucifixes and Madonna representations are predominant in wood sculpture, while the triumphal walls of churches were often adorned with frescoes.

In Gothic times, frescoes were not infrequently hidden by vaults, which were later decorated (see also fresco). Gothic sculpture made by foreign masters is seen in the cathedrals of Linköping and Uppsala.

Altarpieces with carved figures and other wooden sculpture were imported from northern Germany, eg the sculpture group Sankt Jørgen og dragen (1489) in Storkyrkan in Stockholm, attributed to Bernt Notke’s workshop.

In the late Gothic period, a predominantly Flemish influence is seen in the altar painting. Albertus Pictor led a workshop in Stockholm, which in the decades around 1500 carried out frescoes in numerous churches; the sculptor and architect Adam van Düren worked at Lund Cathedral.

After the Reformation of 1527, the visual artists served primarily the royal house and the nobility. Gustav Vasa enrolled artists such as Jacob Binck from Cologne and Willem Boy (d. 1592) from Mecheln, while Erik XIV brought painters from Antwerp. These performed especially royal portraits and tombstones, while Arendt Lamprechtz (d. 1623) performed monumental grisaille paintings for Kalmar Castle in Dutch Mannerism.

From baroque to 1850

At the beginning of the 17th century, significant painting workshops emerged in Gothenburg and Jönköping specializing in ceiling decorations for churches and royal houses.

Erik Dahlbergh began in 1661 the drawings for the engraving Suecia antiqua et hodierna (first published in 1716) with reproductions of the buildings of the Swedish great power era.

Portrait artists were still called in from abroad, and in 1661 the German David Klöcker, later a nobleman of Ehrenstrahl, became a court painter. He was replaced in 1697 by David von Krafft, who repeatedly portrayed Charles 12. In connection with the construction of Stockholm Castle. In the 18th century, several artists were registered from France, including the sculptors Bernard Fouquet (d. 1711 at the earliest) and P.-H. The Archbishop.

In the middle of the 18th century, the peasant painting flourished, which developed a decorative and narrative style that is unique to Sweden, in Dalarna (see valley painting), Halland, Småland and Hälsingland.

The Rococo’s most prominent portrait painters were CG Pilo, Gustaf Lundberg and Alexander Roslin, who had resided in respectively. Denmark and France. Furthermore, mention should be made of the miniature painter Peter Adolf Hall (1739-93) and Niclas Lafrensen, who together with Pehr Hilleström contributed to the development of a bourgeois genre painting.

The landscape painter Elias Martin had in the 1770’s taken inspiration from England, and the portrait painter Per Krafft dy. learned from the neoclassicist J.-L. David in Paris.

Under Gustav III from 1771, art flourished, not least interior art. The first significant Swedish sculptor who also achieved European fame was Johan Tobias Sergel. Among his students were JN Byström and BE Fogelberg, who in the first half of the 19th century dealt with topics from Nordic mythology in a neoclassical idiom. The painters GW Palm, Carl Johan Fahlkrantz (1774-1861) and Edvard Bergh (1828-80) united classicism and romance in their landscape paintings.

Sweden – visual art – 1850-2016

Around 1850 a great interest arose in depictions of folk life, with Per Wickenberg (1812-46) and later with a number of painters who had studied in Düsseldorf, among others. Bengt Nordenberg (1822-1902), Axel Nordgren (1828-88), Kilian Zoll, August Jernberg and Ferdinand Fagerlin (1825-1907).

Wilderness and navy motifs were depicted with romantic pathos by Marcus Larson, and historical events were portrayed strongly coloristically and dramatically by JF Höckert.

The French outdoor painting of the 1870’s influenced Alfred Wahlberg (1834-1906), Gustaf Rydberg (1835-1933) and CF Hill, who arrived at an independent, highly experienced landscape art. Paris also provided inspiration for sculptors such as John Börjeson, Carl Eldh and Per Hasselberg.

In 1886, a group of artists joined together in opposition to the official academic dominance and formed the Konstnärsförbundet, Ernst Josephson, Bruno Liljefors and Anders Zorn.

Here a national romantic renewal of the landscape art took place; to the circle also belonged Karl Nordström, Prince Eugene, Carl Wilhelmson and Carl Larsson, the latter of whom depicted both idyllic home life in bright watercolors and Swedish history in monumental frescoes.

In the 1890’s, symbolism was represented by Olof Sager-Nelson, a direction that also occupied Ivan Aguéli and Ivar Arosenius. The sculptor Carl Mille united ancient archaic style with French realism, and the painter Karl Isakson worked in the spirit of Paul Cézanne.

Modern painting had its breakthrough in 1909, when the group De unga exhibited, Isaac Grünewald, Sigrid Hjertén, Einar Jolin and Leander Engström; almost all had studied with Henri Matisse in Paris and cultivated a fauvism-inspired, colorful style. Nils von Dardel stood for elegant naivety, and John Sten (1879-1922) represented Cubism.

The 1920’s were especially characterized by a new, classically realistic objectivity, which is seen in Otte Sköld and Arvid Fougstedt, while the abstract and non-figurative are represented by Gösta Adrian-Nilsson (GAN) and Otto G. Carlsund. The painting of the 1930’s was dominated by a dramatic coloration, often with social themes and expressively executed, thus in Ivan Ivarson, Ragnar Sandberg and Sven Erixson; Brother Hjorth stood for a naive form of sculpture, surrealism was cultivated by the Halmstad group.

After World War II, the various abstract forms of expression gained more practitioners with Lennart Rodhe, Olle Bonniér, Olle Baertling and Arne Jones (1914-76). In the 1950’s, an abstract expressionism was seen in Torsten Renqvist, and surrealism was represented by Max Walter Svanberg.

In the 1960’s, a richly varied neodadaism emerged with elements from pop art, represented by CF Reuterswärd, Öyvind Fahlström, Erik Dietman and Per Olof Ultvedt.

In the 1970’s, art took on social and political dimensions, as can be seen in Gerhard Nordström (b. 1925), Dick Bengtsson (1936-89) and Peter Tillberg (1946-2016). An extreme realism appears in John-e Franzén and Ola Billgren, while non-figurative expressionism was represented in the 1980’s by Petter Zennström (1945-2014), Max Book and Rolf Hansson (b. 1953). Both constructivism and minimalism have played an increasingly important role since the late 1980’s for e.g. Stina Ekman (b. 1950), Truls Melin (b. 1958) and Fredrik Wretman (b. 1953) as well as for the sculptors Takashi Naraha (b. 1930) and Pål Svensson (b. 1950).

The development in Swedish art followed the international currents in the 1990’s, where the focus was increasingly on photography, video and computer art. Significant representatives of this are Peter Hagdahl (b. 1956), who was co-founder of CRAC (Creative Room for Art and Computing) and the first professor of new media at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm, but also Ann-Sofi Sidén (b. 1962), Magnus Wallin (b. 1965) and Miriam Bäckström (b. 1967), who in Denmark, among others. exhibited the photo series Dødsboer og Scenografier at Horsens Kunstmuseum in 1999, as well as Annika Larsson (b. 1972), who in simple, powerful video installations tells about power and powerlessness. Among younger painters, Linn Fernström (b. 1974) in particular points forward.

Many of the decorations in the public space have the character of installation, eg Jan Svennungsson’s (b. 1961) project Tomorrow something wonderful will happen at Linköping University in 2000.

Annika Svenbro (b. 1946) and Matts Leiderstam (b. 1956) contributed to the new district Västra hamnen in Malmö with a landscape park by Stig L. Andersson in 2001 with works that activate the viewer, eg by means of an eye in a wall or two special binoculars.

The Kulturbro project, which was established in 2000 in connection with the inauguration of the Øresund Bridge and then continues every two years, created exhibitions and events across the countries, eg Waterfront, which took place along the waterfront in Helsingborg and Helsingør.

Sweden – crafts and design

Modern Swedish design rests on a craft tradition and a world of form rounded by the folk art, an art with a strong local character handed down in, for example, painted furniture, painted wall decorations, embroidered and woven textiles, bark and woodwork.

From the Middle Ages, a number of woven tapestries have been preserved, including Skogbonaden and Överhogdalsbonaderna. In the Renaissance and Baroque, Swedish handicrafts were strongly influenced by Dutch and French models in particular.

In the late 18th century, a simple and elegant style, Gustavian style, was inspired by the French Louis Seize style and represented by Louis and Jean-Baptiste Masreliez, LJ Desprez and Georg Haupt. It was further processed in interiors, furniture, silver and textiles by JE Rehn and CF Adelcrantz.

Faience and porcelain factories were founded: Rörstrand in 1726, Marieberg in 1758 and Gustavsberg in 1825. In 1788 a porphyry factory was founded in Älvdalen, and elsewhere a large production of metalwork in silver, iron, brass and tin was worked up. 1820-50, a bourgeois Swedish variant of the empire, the Karl Johan style, broke through with strong interior colors and heavy, dark mahogany furniture with gilded fittings.

Around 1900, a breakthrough in Swedish design began with Carl Larsson’s interior design of his home in Sundborn, inspired by both folk art and Gustavian style. In 1919, Gregor Paulsson introduced the concept of “beautiful everyday goods” (‘more beautiful everyday things’) and thus a social aspect in Swedish design.

It became very important throughout the century, also internationally under the name Swedish Grace, via the Swedish Handicraft Association’s (now Svensk Forms) housing exhibitions.

In 1917, furniture architects such as Gunnar Asplund and Sven Markelius broke through, and Wilhelm Kåge with porcelain, printed textiles and applied art in stoneware. In 1924, Estrid Ericson (1894-1981) founded the design company Svenskt Tenn, for which Josef Frank and Carl Malmsten designed furniture, among other things

From the 1930’s Bruno Mathsson asserted himself with his molded furniture, Wiwen Nilsson (1897-1974) and Sigvard Bernadotte created new corpus silver, while Märta Måås-Fjetterström, Barbro Nilsson and Astrid Sampe brought important motif renewal in textile art.

Karl-Erik Forsberg excelled with graphic design. With the housing exhibition H55 in Helsingborg in 1955, a new simplicity and economical form of production was announced with, for example, Sigurd Persson’s kitchenware and Signe Persson-Melin’s glass and ceramics.

This formed the basis for the 1960’s’ simply designed low-priced goods from e.g. IKEA and for original Swedish industrial design such as Sixtens Sason’s (1912-67) car design for Saab, Victor Hasselblad’s photographic cameras and Hugo Blomberg’s (1897-1994) telephone design for Ericsson.

Swedish industrial designers are still at the forefront of ergonomic design and development of new materials in computer-based industrial design. A special position in Swedish design has glass art, both studio glass and utility glass, from Alf Wallander’s (1862-1914) design around the year 1900 over Simon Gate, Edward Hald, Edvin Öhrström and Vicke Lindstrand (1904-83) to Erik Höglund, Gunnar Cyrén and Bertil Vallien, several of them associated with the large glassworks Kosta Boda and Orrefors.

In the 1980’s, John Kandell (1925-91) introduced the postmodern style into his furniture, followed in the 1990’s by Mats Theselius’ (b. 1956) furniture design.

Sweden – architecture

The article deals with the architecture of present-day Sweden from the introduction of Christianity around the year 1000.

Middle Ages and Renaissance

Throughout the period, there was extensive wood construction, of which The church in Södra Råda in Värmland has been preserved from approximately 1300 and the stave church in Hedared in Västergötland from approximately 1500. In Scania, which was part of Denmark, half-timbering was used. From the middle of 1000-t. churches were built of natural stone; bricks first became widespread in the late Middle Ages. The oldest preserved stone church is the Scanian episcopal church Dalby from the 1060’s. The Romanesque cathedral in Lund, begun approximately 1085, has Italian-style decoration. Most Swedish cathedrals are Gothic, and among them is Uppsala Cathedralthe biggest. St. Petri Church in Malmö from the beginning of the 14th century stands as Southern Scandinavia’s best example of the Baltic Sea Gothic. Peculiar are Öland’s defense churches and Gotland’s mighty village churches from approximately 1250-1350. Larger medieval castles stand as ruins or have been rebuilt, eg Kalmar Castle and Borgholm Castle, but from the late Middle Ages stone houses such as Läckö and the Scanian Glimmingehus have been preserved.

After the Reformation (1527, Scania 1536), castles and castles as well as townhouses became the main architectural tasks, such as Malmö House from the 1530’s, the rebuilding of Kalmar Castle and Vadstena Castle (1545 ff.), All in the Renaissance; Among the churches of the period is Christian IV’s Trinity Church in Kristianstad in Scania (1618-28).

Sweden – architecture – baroque until 1850

The heyday after 1648 was also a great time for Swedish architecture. After German influence now followed Dutch. Justus Vingboons and Simon and Jean de la Vallées The House of Knights (1641-75) in Stockholm in Dutch Palladianism became landmark, even its säteritak, ie. a roof in two ledges above each other with a low wall between them; it was widely used on mansions. A magnificent example of contemporary manor construction is Skokloster in Uppland, built 1654-68. The numerous churches of the period were often central buildings in the shape of a cross, with Jean de la Vallée’s Catherine’s Church (1656-95) in Stockholm as a breakthrough work. The European High Baroque held its entrance with Nic. Tessin d.æ.s castle Drottningholm, but the all-dominating masterpiece of the Carolingian period was Tessin dys Roman Baroque Stockholm Castle.

It was the successors to the castle construction that took Swedish architecture further in a French-inspired direction. Carl Hårleman built several manors and set the tone for the simpler construction in the country right next to the wooden houses that were painted in the castle’s yellow color at the time. From the middle of the 1700’s. the Rococo and early Gustavian classicism flourished with CF Adelcrantz ‘China Castle and the theater in Drottningholm’s park, Erik Palmstedt’s stock exchange building in Stockholm and JE Rehn’s castle interiors. Gustav III’s trip to Italy 1783-84 reinforced the taste for antiquity, and the mature neoclassicism bore fruit such as Palmstedt’s theater on Gripsholm, JL Desprez ‘Botanicum in Uppsala and Olof Tempelman’s Kongens Pavillon on Haga, all from the 1780’s.

The leading architect in the early 1800’s, Fredrik Blom, built in addition to barracks and guard buildings the castle Rosendal and Skeppsholmskyrkan in empire, both in Stockholm. The historical styles had come into focus with CG Brunius, who from 1833 enthusiastically led the restoration of the Romanesque cathedral in Lund.

Sweden – architecture – 1850 to today

Historicism is represented by Fredrik Wilhelm Scholander (1816-81) and Johan Fredrik Åbom (1817-1900). Scholander’s student Helgo Zettervall took over the management of Lund Cathedral’s restoration in 1860; with his “stylish” restorations also of the cathedrals in Linköping, Skara, Uppsala and others as well as his own distinctive buildings, Zettervall became one of the 1800’s most prominent Swedish architects. The German architect FA Stüler was responsible for one of the period’s main works, the National Museum in Stockholm (inaugurated in 1866) in neo-renaissance style.

The fact that Swedish architecture has its roots in centuries of peasant and manor culture also became very important in a modern, gradually industrialized age. The popular and the noble were united around 1900 into a democratic ideal in the desire for “beauty for all”, which became a clue in 1900’s architecture and decor. The painter Carl Larsson’s depictions of his home became the inspiration for designing the framework for a healthy, beautiful and simple life. The love of detail and ornamentation was common with the Art Nouveau style that flourished in Sweden 1896-1914. It characterizes the Dramaten in Stockholm (1901-08) by Fredrik Lilljekvist (1863-1932), but was particularly prominent in Malmö with Axel Anderbergs (1860-1937) Sankt Johannes kyrka (1901-07) and Ferdinand Bobergs posthus (1899-1906).

The architecture 1900-20 painted a motley picture. The national romantic current was expressed in Carl Westman’s Stockholm City Hall (1911-15) and Ragnar Östberg’s Stockholm City Hall(1911-23), while the neoclassical influence is seen in Carl Bergstens Liljevalchs konsthall (1916) and Ivar Tengboms Konserthuset (1926), both in Stockholm, characterized by a purified, harmonious and simplified expression. Sven Markelius represented the early functionalism with The Concert Hall in Helsingborg (1925-32). The Stockholm exhibition 1930 with Gunnar Asplund as main architect heralded the new era with its modern buildings in concrete, glass and steel. It is clear that the modified Swedish modernism was not nurtured by the avant-garde’s desire to revolutionize architecture, but rather by the strong Social Democrats’ progressive housing policy and dream of a Swedish “folkhem”, where material goods flowed to the majority. Swedish Modern, as the style was called abroad from 1930 until World War II, became known in connection with the World’s Fair in Paris in 1937 and represented the best in the meeting between the sense of beauty and democratic obligations. Asplund’s extension of Gothenburg City Hall (completed in 1937) is a pure example.

Swedish architecture continued an uninterrupted development during World War II and benefited from political stability. The commitment of the 1930’s and 1940’s in the field of residential architecture was continued in the 1950’s and 1960’s. Until 1980, Sven Backström (1903-92) and Leif Reinius (1907-95) ran a drawing studio, which was responsible for high-rise buildings such as Gröndal in Stockholm (1946-51) and Rosta in Örebro (1948-52), which set new standards. Under the influence of British urban planning ideals (new towns), the suburbs sprang up as independent residential areas outside the cores of the larger cities. Sven Markelius was behind the design of Farsta and Vällingby on the outskirts of Stockholm in the 1950’s, just as he designed Hötorget in the city center in the 1960’s; here Peter Celsing was in charge 1965-76 the construction of Kulturhuset and the Riksbank.

The freer architectural experiments were expressed in the church building, eg Carl Nyrén’s (b. 1917) chapel on Lidingö near Stockholm (1964) and Sigurd Lewerentz ‘Sankt Petri kyrka in Klippan, Skåne (1966). Until 1980, the rational and somewhat schematic basis of housing architecture was partly abandoned in favor of low-density construction as a framework for community and social values. The British-born Ralph Erskinesresidential area Nya Bruket in Sandviken near Gävle (1972-80) heralded a new trend. Erskine has also distinguished itself in other areas, including with the expansion of Stockholm University in Frescati (1974 ff.), most recently Juristernas hus (1990) and Aula Magna (1997). The younger generation of architects has the work with sensitive reinterpretations of the idiom of classical modernism, as seen in Studio Gröns Restaurant Trädgår’n in Gothenburg (1998).

After some years in the early 1990’s with economic downturn, Swedish architecture is growing again. Geographically, the focus remains in Central and especially Southern Sweden. The optimistic experiments of the 1980’s with postmodern architectural forms were replaced in the late 1990’s by a diversity of styles within which two main tendencies emerge. One is a form of local regionalism, where the architecture is characterized by external circumstances such as geography or history; examples of this are the ship-like, oak-clad Vitlycke museum in Bohuslän (1998) at Nyréns Arkitektkontor and the extension with an art gallery of Millesgården, Lidingö (1996-99), designed by Johan Celsing (b. 1955).

The second trend is an internationally oriented neo-modernism; these include the residential area Slottet in Helsingborg (2000) by Henrik Jais-Nielsen & Mats White Arkitekter, the new university library in Karlstad (2002) by White Arkitekter and the later buildings by one of Swedish architecture’s leading figures, Gerd Wingårdh (b. 1951), eg the Swedish Embassy in Berlin (1996-99) and the Universe in Gothenburg (1998-2001). Significant buildings in Stockholm are the Museum of Modern Art and the Museum of Architecture (1998) by José Rafael Moneo. Several Danish architects have built in Sweden, including Henning Larsen with Malmö City Library (1994-97), Tegnestuen Vandkunsten with homes at Norra hamnen in Helsingborg (1997-98) and Kim Utzon with Dunkers kulturhus (2002) in the same place.

Sweden – literature

The Nordic common language retained its unity until up to the year 1000, thus also the language of imagination, poetry and the oral narrative. In the case of Sweden, the written testimonies of this are far weaker than in Iceland and Norway, where there is edda poetry, poets and sagas, and in Denmark, where Saxo’s Latin Danish Chronicle documents a long tradition. The traces of a similar or identical poem about events and myths must be sought on the Swedish rune stones. A magnificent example is the closely written Röksten in Östergötland already from the 800’s. Its 760-character long inscription uses several different types of runes and also the verse form renyrdislag, later known from the Edda. Poetry, magic, riddles constitute its hermetic character, which ushers in a long and special writing tradition through the ages up to 1900’s modernism.

Middle Ages

The exclusivity continued in the Swedish medieval literature in the church’s Latin, which delayed the unfolding of worldly poetry, which first took place around 1300 in the courtly environment. The popular (pagan) imagination had inferior conditions under the ecclesiastical intolerance that dominated Sweden, but must have had a tough counterplay in Old Uppsala’s worship. So early on, a characteristic difference between Swedish and Danish culture was marked, although a general parallelism prevails through the Middle Ages, Renaissance and recent times as a result of common continental impulses. Occasionally, they first reached Denmark with the closer geographical connection to the continent. The landscape laws, which were written down in 1200-ts Sweden and compiled into a national law in the middle of 1300-ts, with their colorful examples still bears the imprint of an oral literary tradition with roots in the pagan genealogical community. Scripture replaced the role of the oral tradition as the medium of the leading class, following European tradition in the form of saint legends, sermons, hymns as well as knightly novels and rhyming chronicles. Personal style is with the monk Petrus de Dacia (1235-89) – not to be confused with the astronomer of the same name – in his Latin biography of Sister Christina, a spiritual love story. He is therefore called Sweden’s first author. Birgitta of Vadstena is the first visionary. Her revelations, Personal style is with the monk Petrus de Dacia (1235-89) – not to be confused with the astronomer of the same name – in his Latin biography of Sister Christina, a spiritual love story. He is therefore called Sweden’s first author. Birgitta of Vadstena is the first visionary. Her revelations, Personal style is with the monk Petrus de Dacia (1235-89) – not to be confused with the astronomer of the same name – in his Latin biography of Sister Christina, a spiritual love story. He is therefore called Sweden’s first author. Birgitta of Vadstena is the first visionary. Her revelations,Revelationes coelestes, gained both ecclesiastical and political significance, and she herself saint status. The court literature was introduced with the French knight novels, translated from 1303 under the title Eufemiaviser. They became the inspiration for the Erikskrönikan with its stories in knittelvers about Swedish kings, a lasting source text for Swedish national heroic mythology. The Eufemia newspapers include a number of ballad formulas and features of memorial singing, which must have existed in the Nordic countries. Here, otherwise, only the epic ballad, the folk song, richly handed down, is recorded in the nobility’s songbooks from the 1500’s. and later with the same material and design language throughout Scandinavia. It was a German fashion that migrated via Denmark, where it gained its greatest popularity. The scientific registration and publication ofSweden’s medieval ballads were first realized from 1983.

The crisis and war-era union period left its poetic mark in “Frihedsvisen”, written in 1439 by Thomas Simonsson, bishop of Strängnäs, a political poem in connection with Engelbrekt Engelbrektsson’s uprising against the Danes.

Reformation and Renaissance

First in the 1600’s. a new Swedish poetry arose, as the literature of the Reformation and humanism were especially Bible translations and historiography; Gustav Vasa’s Bible was completed in 1541. Sweden’s reformer was Olaus Petri, whose dramatic life is depicted in Strindberg’s play Mäster Olof (1872). He is the author of A Swedish Cröneka (1530’s), while the brothers Johannes and Olaus Magnus in the 1550’s wrote in Latin about Swedish kings and the cold north, works that must have long controlled the outside world’s view of the northerners. The national self-awareness was given a peculiar expression in the ingenious prose work of the polyhistor Olof RudbeckAtlantica (first written in Swedish, 1679), which overwhelms by making Sweden the origin and center of everything, Atlantis itself. The Danes did not allow themselves to be blinded, Ludvig Holberg wrote a satirical epistle (no. 193) about this.

Poetry flourished earlier in the century in Lars Wivallius ‘ lyrical praise of nature and freedom and in Johannes Messenius’ drama, but the term the father of Swedish literature is reserved for Georg Stiernhielm, the creator of a poem based on classical patterns. However, he also created an entrance to the literary baroque with the hexameter poem “Hercules” (1658).

New, strong emotional expressions, stylistic swing in the lyrics include zest for life and thoughts of transience, in poems by Samuel Columbus (1642-79), in the pseudonym Skogekär Bergbo’s erotic sonnets Wenerid (1680) in Petrarca’s style, with Lasse Lucidor, “O eternity, your length terrifies me”.

Enlightenment time

Classicism prevailed as a stylistic ideal and rational attitude, but the opposites also thrived in the Age of Freedom (1718-72), illustrated by two different types of spirit, the Latin dreamer Emanuel Swedenborg, still relevant to both romance and modernism, and the naturalist Carl von Linné, both with great literary weight, resp. in visions and in travelogues from Swedish parts of the country. With an appeal to the emerging bourgeoisie, Olof von Dalin wrote the magazine Then Swänska Argus (1732-34), but also court empire, drama and professional history.

The poets of the Gustavian period seem academic, French influenced elegant, moralistic or lively, GF Gyllenborg (1731-1808), GP Creutz and Hedvig Charlotta Nordenflycht, feminist before the time with radical salon life, all three members of the company Tankebyggarorden, but above all the genius and musical life and verse artist Carl Michaël Bellman, who created his fictional Stockholm drinkers and lovers in Fredman’s epistles (1790, with foreword by JH Kellgren). Gustav III consolidated the role of literature and culture with the establishment of the Swedish Academy in 1786.

The contrast between the Enlightenment’s ideal of rationality and a new sentimentalism and budding romanticism manifested itself in a polemic between the classicist the powerful judge of taste JH Kellgren and the politically controversial Thomas Thorild, inspired by Ossian’s songs and Rousseau. He was followed by Bengt Lidner and Frans Michael Franzén, while classicism was represented by JG Oxenstierna and the esthetician Carl August Ehrensvärd. Kellgren worked with the satirist Anna Maria Lenngren in Stockholms Posten (1778-1833), the body for the highest enlightenment. The time of freedom was now over, freedom of the press was limited, national tones, the Gothic, were strengthened, and soon national romanticism was to take hold.

Romance

While German romantic idealism was presented in Copenhagen by the Norwegian Henrich Steffens as early as 1802, the trip came a few years later to Stockholm and Uppsala, especially around the magazine Phosphoros (1810-13) with the poet and literary historian PDA Atterbom as the guiding star. Atterbom later wrote the highly romantic gospel in the adventure game Lycksalighetens ö (1824-27), which is hardly fun to read anymore, while the most enduring romantic poetry came from the enigmatic genius EJ Stagnelius. Just as he is spiritually related to the Danish-German poet Schack Staffeldt, and Atterbom was close to BS Ingemann, Oehlenschläger’s Nordic romance was a model for Esaias Tegnér, who also paid tribute to and crowned him in Lund Cathedral in 1828. Götiska förbundetwith the journal Iduna in Stockholm, run by the historian and poet EG Geijer, was a more sober idealistic counterpart to the contemporary Phosphoros. The path between romance and a liberal realism was drawn with greater effect by the phenomenon of CJL Almqvist, ingenious literary all-rounder, from his adventurous novel The Queen’s Jewel (1834) to the problem novel It Goes On (1839). The women asserted themselves in the novel form, thus Fredrika Bremer, who in the middle of the century like August Blanchedrew critical images of married and bourgeois life. Prose thus soon became the dominant literary form, also in the far-reaching Viktor Rydberg, who attacked Christianity and social oppression. An upbeat political lyricism appeared in places from the 1860’s with the elegant Carl Snoilsky.

A prose genre of great importance to the Romantics of Europe and later the Neo-Romanticism was the folk tale that had been discovered, collected and published nationally in country after country. The oral narrative was also edited and refined as an art adventure in the constant interplay between speech and writing. The brothers Grimm and HC Andersen also became important for Swedish literature. GO Hyltén-Cavallius and G. Stephens (1813-95) Swedish folk tales and adventures came 1844-49 with “Prince Hat under the earth” as the most beloved.

The modern breakthrough

Yet geographical distances in Europe played a role in the rate of spread of cultural currents. Like the Romantic movement, naturalism also hesitated in Sweden. Only with August Strindberg’s novel The Red Room (1879) was the modern breakthrough felt in the corrosive critical image of society that Georg Brandes had called for. But all of a sudden, modern Scandinavian literature also had a Central European breakthrough with Ibsen and Bjørnson, Strindberg, JP Jacobsen and Herman Bang, not least in a theatrical context. Women’s consciousness was growing, radically with Anne Charlotte Leffler, less far-reaching with Victoria Benedictsson.

But new tendencies soon turned in the direction of neo-romanticism and hometown ideology, and realism only came to celebrate new triumphs in the next century. From the 1890’s, Verner von Heidenstam steered towards national star status, which later faded, while Selma Lagerlöf already from the novel Gösta Berling’s saga(1891) only grew in format as a narrator. A poem of the place renewed the lyrical expression of the poets of the 1890’s, Gustaf Fröding (Värmland, like Selma Lagerlöf), Erik Axel Karlfeldt (Dalarna), and already from the 1880’s Ola Hansson (Skåne). Nature and past were preferred over big city. To this day, regional background has a far greater artistic significance in a country with Sweden’s cultural geography than in Denmark. Scania and Norrland are quite different literary nations. But across all frontiers, contemporary and future, Strindberg’s ever-renewing and surprising passions of poetry, prose, and drama reigned, through polemical radicalism, naturalism, and early modernism.

The decadence and discouragement of the turn of the century marked the significant prose writer Hjalmar Söderberg, who sought refuge in Copenhagen. Hjalmar Bergman (Bergslagen, Örebro) used the distinctive storytelling technique to draw the bourgeois world of the bourgeoisie. Symbolism and classicism characterized with rigor Vilhelm Ekelund’s poetry and aphorism and with gentleness Anders Österling’s poems, both of Scanian origin.

It was again Strindberg who in Tal till Svenska Nationen (1910), on the basis of a general strike in social indignation, did away with traditionalism in literature and paved the way for a bourgeois realism, expressed again with a regional character by Martin Koch, Gustaf Hedenvind-Eriksson (1880-1967), Ludvig Nordström and the poet Dan Andersson.

Neutrality and experimentation

Sweden’s policy of neutrality during both World War I and World War II is the background for a distinctive, advanced crisis awareness in literature, an early formulated modernism that broke into Birger Sjöberg’s poetry and in Pär Lagerkvist’s poetry, with the latter continued in a religiously colored humanism in novels and dramas. Workers’ literature and modernism characterized the 1920’s and 1930’s. A symptomatic expression of this duality is the anthology 5 unga(1929) with the names Erik Asklund (1908-80), Josef Kjellgren (1907-48), Gustav Sandgren (1904-83) and Harry Martinson and Artur Lundkvist, mere autodidacts, the last two with long-term significance for internationalization and the cosmic imagination in modern Swedish literature, critical, lyrical, epic. Next to them were the academics Karin Boye, lyricists associated with the association Clarté, Hjalmar Gullberg, Johannes Edfelt and Gunnar Ekelöf as the main figure in intellectual modernism with its ever-growing, transcultural motif expansion, “the prince” in Swedish poetry.

Appetite for life and political contingency were mixed in voluminous and substance-saturated novels, often whole series, by self-taught and learned prose writers, based on experiences in poor Sweden and during stays abroad, thus Eyvind Johnson with idea novels of historical and current existential aspect, Ivar Lo-Johansson and Jan Fridegård, both based on the “conditions” of the “states”, and Vilhelm Moberg with a culmination in the history of the emigrants. The women’s experiences in two widely separated social strata, the factory workers and the upper class, were expressed by Moa Martinson and Agnes von Krusenstjerna.

The great novel poetry

Sweden thus has a vast literary experience base for the further emergence of existential novel poetry and socially and politically conscious documentarism, which in the following decades almost became the norm in the Nordic countries, with author names such as Stig Dagerman, the poet of the anxiety generation, Lars Ahlin as the religiously colored narrator who claimed the aesthetics of intercession, Lars Gyllensten with a radical doubt as a basic philosophical theme, Sara Lidman with a Norse and anti-imperialist temperament, followed by Jan Myrdal’s multifaceted radicalism. In the 1960’s and through the next decade, political activity also intensified with debate books by Sven Lindqvist, the poets Göran Palm and Folke Isaksson and the novelist Per Wästberg, as well as PC Jersild, Per Olof Sundman and Per Olov Enquistwith scientific care documented, told and fabricated, the latter also as a playwright. The sense of grotesque thrives with Jersild and with Sven Delblanc, with whom family history in novel form is also identity-creating. During and especially after the tremendous unfolding of the world conscience, the freer poem and narrative have celebrated artistic triumphs with the mentioned and not least with the richly faceted philosopher, lyricist and prose writer Lars Gustafsson, with Kerstin Ekman and Torgny Lindgren with Södermanland and Västerbotten as the environment behind psychological conflict substance, while rather Värmland nature and populism are the background for Göran Tunström’s and Lars Andersson’snovels. Swedish and exotic environment is there in the lyricist and playwright Agneta Pleijel’s novels. In the field of crime, the author couple Maj Sjöwall and Per Wahlöö have added a socially debating perspective to the genre, and with Astrid Lindgren, Swedish children’s literature has placed itself eminently far beyond the country’s borders. The flourishing of children’s literature, for which her writing stands as the strongest exponent, has led to innovative initiatives with e.g. Maria Gripe’s magically realistic children’s novels, Inger (b. 1930) and Lasse Sandberg’s (1924-2008) toddler books and Sven Wernström’s problematic depictions of youth.

Modernism

The lyrical modernism of the post-war period was particularly debating, for his third position in the cold world of political contradictions, and is also notorious as difficult to access under the name of forty-year-oldism, with a revolutionary imagery of idiom, inspired of early Finnish-Swedish modernism. It gave poetry new authority and also attracted older poets, Bertil Malmberg and Hjalmar Gullberg. The leading figures were Erik Lindegren, Karl Vennberg and Werner Aspenström with their critical, equilibrist language musical diction. In the 1950’s, Lars Forssell was more gentle or ironically sharp with poetry, cabaret, drama, Bo Setterlind (1923-91) and Östen Sjöstrand with a lyrical, religious motif world. A new wave of Scanian poetry was erected by the so-called Lundaskolewith academically refined poetry by Göran Printz-Påhlson, who is also a significant critic, as well as by Majken Johansson, Ingemar Leckius (1928-2011) and Anna Rydstedt (1928-94), all three aroused by Christianity. The world-interpretation of Catholicism is found in Birgitta Trotzig’s lyrical prose and novels with suffering and the exposed human being as a recurring theme. Sensual metaphysics has since its debut in 1954 with 17 poems characterized Tomas Tranströmer’s concentrated poetry, which has been translated into the major languages, while the world-accustomed Lasse Söderberg has brought in French and Spanish impulses.

Concretism in language-playing poetry was introduced by the visual artist Öyvind Fahlström as early as the 1950’s and became a characteristic movement in the 1960’s with Åke Hodell and Bengt Emil Johnson, a combination of music, graphics, words that also initiated a Danish concretism and system poetry in the decade. It led on to a scriptural theme poetry and prose by Erik Beckman and by Lars Norén, for whom since then the drama in Strindberg’s spirit became the main road to the international scenes, followed by Per Olov Enquist. Music, philosophy, politics are constantly included in Göran Sonnevi’s lyrical work in progress. He aroused political poetry with his poem about the war in Vietnam (1965). A colloquial, simple lyric about female identity was created by Sonja Åkesson in the 1960’s, an everyday realism, followed in the 1970’s by the more biting Kristina Lugn, as opposed to the anarchist surrealism of Bruno K. Öijer (b. 1951).

As with Danish poetry in the 1980’s, Sweden also experienced a boom of a new modernism of postmodern sections, from Stig Larsson and the more hermetic Katarina Frostenson and also in large collections of scholarly poems by Gunnar D. Hansson (b. 1945). In addition, there was a new Scanian media- conscious movement with the Malmö League (from the late 1980’s, anthology 1992) with contact to especially Michael Strunge and the Writers’ School in Copenhagen, consisting of Clemens Altgård (b. 1959), Lukas Moodysson (b. 1969), Håkan Sandell (b. 1962) and Kristian Lundberg (b. 1966). Here you meet an everyday Sweden in a memory-conscious present in poems with an oral touch. The concept of retrogradismis coined by Sandell as an expression of the need to start all over again, in response to the postmodern challenge that makes all stylistic features possible in a literary meta-consciousness. And at the turn of the millennium, a general pluralism in literary expression prevails both in Sweden and in Scandinavia, a contemporary conscious exploitation of characteristic movements and tendencies, not least in a vital novel poetry of both older and younger authors. A characteristic phenomenon in poetry is orality, which comes into its own at various reading events, with and without music, a continuation of the strong Swedish song and ballad poetry, which includes names such as Lars Wivallius, Bellman, CJL Almqvist, Gunnar Wennerberg, G. Fröding, Evert Taube, Nils Ferlin, Olle Adolphson (1934-2004) and Cornelis Vreeswijk. A poem around the world of books.

Sweden – theater

The oldest surviving play text, Tobie Comedia (1550), is attributed to Sweden’s reformer, Olaus Petri. But there also existed before the Reformation a popular theater life both within the church within liturgical games and outside with jugglers, playwrights, as they are called in the landscape law Västgötalagen from 1200-t., The Nordic region’s oldest source for the view of theater people. Jokers are also depicted on frescoes.

In the 1600’s. foreign theater troupes appeared, though permanent theaters were still missing. Student theater flourished in Uppsala, and in 1686 a Swedish theater troupe, Dän Swänska Theatren, found refuge in Lejonkulan near the Royal Palace in Stockholm; the troupe should try to develop drama in Swedish. Based on the same idea, the theater company Swenska Comedien could in 1737 play more permanently in Bollhuset in Stockholm, Holberg and newly written Swedish drama, eg Carl Gyllenborg’s comedy Svenska sprätthöken (1737).

In 1788, the “theater king ” Gustav III established the Royal Swedish Dramatic Theater (the current Royal Dramatic Theater (Dramaten)) as a national stage with a student school. The king also unfolded as a playwright and initiator of a Swedish tradition of performing arts, whose representatives in the 1800’s. Among other things, were Gustaf Lagerbjelke and August Lindberg (1846-1916).

1799-1842 there was a royal monopoly on theater operations in Stockholm. The monopoly was broken when the New Theater in Stockholm opened in 1842, and in the second part of the 1800’s, several new theater stages were added. More durable Swedish drama remained a scarce commodity before Strindberg. Exceptions were August Blanche’s A Traveling Theater Company (1848) and FA Dahlgren’s (1816-95) Wermländingarna (1846). Not until the 1900’s. with Strindberg, Swedish theater became a world success; a collaboration with August Falck on the Intima Theater 1907-10 became a realization of Strindberg’s dream of a Scandinavian Experimental Theater. After World War II, many experimental stages and basement theaters emerged.

There was also a locally rooted, popular theater life, which was supported with the establishment in 1934 of the nationwide Riksteatern and the establishment of city theaters in major cities. From the 1960’s, an undergrowth of free theater groups emerged throughout Sweden with great political commitment to current public debate, with new target groups, including children, and not least with new production methods with the direct involvement of playwrights. The large institutional theaters unfolded in parallel, via smaller experimental scenes with a certain artistic autonomy. Gothenburg City Theater gave approximately 1970 external framework for the collaboration between the director and actor Kent Andersson and the playwright Bengt Bratt for plays such as Hemmet (1967) and Sandlådan (1968).Stockholm City Theater provided administrative shelter for Michael Meschke’s Puppet Theater.

In the wake of Strindberg, playwrights such as Pär Lagerkvist, Hjalmar Bergman, Stig Dagerman, Lars Forssell, Lars Molin (1942-99), Agneta Pleijel, Suzanne Osten (b. 1944), PO Enquist, Staffan Göthe (b. 1942) and Lars can be noted Norén. Among 1900’s instructors are Per Lindberg, Olof Molander, Alf Sjöberg, Ingmar Bergman, Peter Oskarson and Lars Norén. 1900-ts Swedish theater unfolded diversity, also thanks to the wide scope which the Swedish social democracy active theater policy created since 1933. See also Drottningholms Slott Theater, Malmö City Theater, Orionteatern, Pistolteatern and Skånska Teatern.

Sweden – dance

In Sweden, folk dance and ballet have historically been the dominant dance forms. The ballet is known in Sweden from the 1600’s, and it got its own company in 1773. To the extent that folk dance exists today, it is primarily practiced in associations.

Folk dance

In today’s Sweden, folk dance is practiced primarily in associations, so-called folk dance groups. An actual write-down of the folk dance forms did not take place until the beginning of the 1900’s. However, as early as 1880, the folk dance group Philochoros emerged among students in Uppsala with a national romantic repertoire based on stage dances from the mid-1800’s.

Swedish folk dance includes group dance for several couples such as quadrille and English as well as couple dance belonging to the group polska; the latter often have local names. Polska in particular is a central form in Swedish folk dances. The couple dances also include 1800’s round dances: waltz, polka, mazurka, hambo and schottis, which are often summarized as old dances. In dance music, the most important instruments are violin (violin) and accordion (accordion).

Sweden – music

Unlike Denmark’s music history, where fires have destroyed significant parts of the written source material, Sweden’s is well documented through numerous handed down musicals. The oldest sources, however, are not written, but consist of archaeological finds of bone flutes and rattle instruments from the Neolithic (approximately 2000 BC). Of the approximately 60 bronze clocks, found in the southern Scandinavian area from 1300-500 BC, are some of the oldest found in Scania, Blekinge and on Öland, while the lyre (with 4-7 strings) is known from finds on Gotland (700- t.) and at Birka (800-t.).

At the end of 1000-t. Sweden was Christianized, and by the great cathedrals ordinances were introduced for church singing (1137 for Lund Cathedral, 1272 Linköping, 1298 Uppsala). While the church song was initially characterized by English and later southern German impulses, it became with the Cistercians’ entry in the 1100’s. and the Dominicans in the 1200’s. added influence from Rome. The earliest Swedish contributions to the Latin liturgy included sequences and hymns. Petrus Olavi (died 1378), the spiritual guide of St. Bridget, compiled a cycle of seven officers, Cantus sororum, with a view to the nuns of Vadstena Monasteryeach day of the week could sing different aspects of the life of the Virgin Mary. The first direct testimony of polyphonic singing on Swedish soil comes from a church party in Vadstena 1489. Two Gotland organs from the 1300’s. must be considered the oldest in Sweden.

After the Reformation, the number of church festivals was reduced and the Gregorian chant disappeared, but parts of the medieval church song tradition lived on in Swedish translation. Responsibility for the music of the cathedrals was handed over to the cathedral schools, which assigned the music an important place on the schedule. At the German Church in Stockholm, a significant cult of music took place from the 1580’s, partly in collaboration with the court and the Great Church. The church’s rich collection of church and secular music from the time approximately 1580-1630 by Dutch, Italian, German and French composers are preserved.

Under Gustav Vasa (reigned 1523-60), the court’s musical life was modeled on a European-continental model, and a number of musicians, predominantly of foreign descent, shed light on the court’s ceremonial with an international repertoire of church and secular music.

During the great power era, increased contacts to the musically traditional Baltic Sea towns and the continent led to Swedish music life flourishing. In connection with Gustav II Adolf’s wedding in 1620, the court chapel was expanded by about 20 musicians, of whom the court organist Andreas Düben became the ancestor of the musician dynasty Düben. In 1640 he became leader of the court chapel, which included both instrumentalists and vocalists.

The Swedish music history of the 18th century is traditionally divided into the Age of Freedom and the Gustavian era. The worship of art music spread to bourgeois circles, and eventually a public concert life emerged. The composer Johan Agrell worked in Germany, while Johan Helmich Romanbecame a central figure at home in Sweden. His rich musical production includes most of the genres of the time, such as cantatas, symphonies, orchestral suites, concerts and chamber music, and in 1731 he took the initiative to hold the first of a series of concerts with passion music by Handel. From 1758 the concert life flourished again with subscription concerts under the direction of the Italian Francesco Uttini, and from 1769 the composer and organist Ferdinand Zellbell (1719-80) led the so-called “cavalier concerts”. In the following decade, concert-giving companies such as Utile dulci, Par bricole and the Royal Academy of Music (founded 1771) emerged.

By the mid-1700’s. the performing arts again got a firmer place at court. After Gustav III’s accession to the throne in 1771, the musical-dramatic activity intensified in an attempt to make Swedish-language opera the spearhead of a flourishing domestic culture. The court chapel was more strongly attached to the theater, and Swedish singers and dancers were employed. In 1773, the Swedish Opera opened with a performance by Uttini, combining Italian vocal art with the magnificent ballet and choral elements of French opera. Incidentally, the repertoire was dominated by French opéra comique, opera ballets and Gluck’s reform operas. In the 1780’s, the Gustavian opera took on a special character with historical-national themes prepared by Swedish librettists. In collaboration with JH Kellgren, the king wrote lyrics for operas about two of his predecessors, Gustav Vasa(1786, with music by the German composer JG Naumann) and Gustav Adolf and Ebba Brahe (1788, with music by the German organ virtuoso and composer Georg Joseph Vogler). Also the early deceased Joseph Martin Kraus and Johann Christian Friedrich Haeffner (1759-1833) composed operas. After the king’s death, the domestic production of operas at the Royal Dramatic Theater ceased temporarily, but on Stockholm’s private stages, singing performances, opera parodies and adaptations of French vaudevilles were performed. In the 1700’s. In the last decade, the company song flourished in musical-literary circles, while the rest of Swedish song production gained a broader social foundation through the spread of penny prints with melody references. In the 1790’s, Olof Åhlström (1756-1835) published the satirical poet and composerCarl Michaël Bellman’s collections Fredman’s epistles and Fredman’s songs.

1800-t.

In the first half of the 1800’s. formed concert companies in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö, Norrköping, Linköping and Växjö, in which mixed choirs gathered to perform larger choral works. The military music corps also played an important role in public concert life. In the university cities of Uppsala and Lund, the choir song got its special touch in the form of the student song, which Otto Lindblad contributed with male choir songs.

At the Royal Dramatic Theater, a versatile and current opera repertoire was performed, which became the springboard for singer Jenny Lind’s international career in the 1840’s. At the center of Swedish vocal music was the lyrical solo singing with piano accompaniment, which had its most distinguished representatives in the Uppsala circle’s composers Erik Gustav Geijer (1783-1847), Adolf Fredrik Lindblad, Jacob Axel Josephson (1818-80) and Prince Gustaf (1827-52). Geijer’s collection and publication of Swedish folk songs from antiquity(1814-18, in collaboration with Arvid August Afzelius (1785-1871) and Haeffner) made a decisive contribution to the early romantic song being characterized by simple but characterful and evocative melodies. Clarinetist Bernhard Crusell, who was born in Finland, wrote chamber music and concerts for his instrument.

The most important Swedish instrumental composer was Franz Berwald, whose musical production culminated in the four major symphonies of the 1840’s and a number of late chamber music works. The composer and court conductor Ludvig Norman (1831-85), who, like Josephson and August Söderman (1832-76) had studied in Leipzig in the 1840’s, worked actively in the second half of the century to promote instrumental music. 1860-78 he stood with Ivar Hallström (1826-1901, known for the national romantic opera Den bergtagna, 1874) at the head of a significant concert company in the New Harmonic Society (from 1880 continued in the Music Association). Söderman, who in his vocal music was inspired by Swedish “folk tune”, composed and arranged music for about 70 plays and also made himself noticed with choral works in the 1860’s-1870’s. The composer and conductor Andreas Hallén (1846-1925) introduced Wagner’s late musical dramas at the Stockholm Opera, and his Harald Viking (1884) became the first leitmotif – elaborated Swedish opera in late Wagnerian style. In his symphonic poems he was strongly inspired by Liszt, while Emil Sjögren, who especially made a name for himself as a song composer, in his lyrical piano pieces and violin sonatas rather had French role models (Fauré, Franck, Debussy).

1900-t.

In the early 1900-t. expanded music life with the creation of orchestras in Stockholm, Gothenburg, Gävle, Norrköping and Helsingborg. The expansion of the railway network promoted nationwide tours of The Tor Aulin and Kjellström quartets. Three dominant composers were Wilhelm Peterson-Berger, who was also a music critic, Wilhelm Stenhammar, who was also a pianist and conductor, and Hugo Alfvén, who for a number of years led the male choir Orphei Drängarand, like Stenhammar, had a penchant for polyphonic forms in his great choral works. In composers such as Ture Rangström and Sigurd von Koch (1879-1919) the solo song played a prominent role, while the symphonists Natanael Berg (1879-1957), Oskar Lindberg (1887-1955) and Kurt Atterberg were influenced by both Nordic sounds (Alfvén, Sibelius) as European late romanticism (Richard Strauss). Edvin Kallstenius (1881-1967) stood as the most radical composer of his time, who took new paths, especially in the field of accordion. Hilding Rosenberg and Gösta Nystroem, who both established their names in the 1920’s, had neo-Baroque features in common, but otherwise represented different tendencies within European modernism; Rosenberg expressionism and the folkloric, Nystroem impressionism.

The Swedish section of the International Society for Contemporary Music (founded 1923) contributed, like the chamber music association Fylkingen in Stockholm (founded 1933), to spread the new music. In the interwar years, the composers Lars-Erik Larsson, Dag Wirén and Gunnar de Frumerie (1908-87) performed with orchestral works in neoclassical and idyllic style. After the war, the so-called Monday Group (formed in 1944) became an important forum for the debate on the development of music. The group spoke young composers, musicians and music researchers, and through works by Karl-Birger Blomdahl (internationally known for the space opera Aniara, 1959), Sven-Erik Bäck and Ingvar Lidholmthe expressionism and the twelve-tone technique gained ground. Mention should also be made of Allan Pettersson, who towards the end of his life achieved success with the audience with his large-scale symphonies.

From the 1950’s, composers such as Bengt Hambræus and Bo Nilsson, later Jan W. Morthenson (known for his “meta-music”) and Arne Mellnäs (1933-2002) were influenced by experimental music in Darmstadt, while Lars Johan Werle (1926-2001) in his operas (The Dream of Thérèse, 1960-64, The Animals, 1979) represented a neo-romantic pursuit of simplicity. The study of electro-acoustic music in Sweden (EMS, founded 1964 in Stockholm) attracted international attention and in the 1960’s-1970’s became an important field of work for Knut Wiggen (b. 1927), Lars-Gunnar Bodin (b. 1935), Bengt Emil Johnson (1936-2010) and Ralph Lundsten (b. 1936). Of composers born in the 1940’s, Sven-David Sandström, Daniel Börtz (b. 1943), Miklós Maros (b. 1943) and Anders Eliasson (1947-2013) have made a name for themselves with works that partly reintroduce the tonality and strive towards simple structures and collage-embossed technique. The younger generation is represented by Hans Gefors (b. 1952), Karin Rehnqvist (b. 1957), Jan Sandström (b. 1954), Anders Nilsson (b. 1954) and Madeleine Isaksson (b. 1956).

Several Swedish musicians have made a name for themselves with an international career, including singers Jenny Lind, Jussi Björling, Birgit Nilsson, Ingvar Wixell and Anne Sofie von Otter as well as conductors Eric Ericson, Sixten Ehrling, Herbert Blomstedt and Stefan Parkman.

Jazz

In the 1920’s, jazz gradually gained ground in Sweden, but it was not until the following decade that it made its breakthrough as an independent form of music. Stylistic orchestras were led by Håkan von Eichwald (1908-64) and Arne Hülphers (1904-78), and with the magazine Orkester Journalen (founded in 1933 as the world’s probably the first jazz magazine), jazz got its own mouthpiece.

From 1939, the singer Alice Babs contributed to its popularity through films, concerts, performances in folk parks, gramophone recordings and in the trio Swe-Danes. The Swedish jazz scene of the 1940’s was drawn by the trumpeter Thore Ehrlings (1912-94) polished big band arrangements and by the Swedish Hot Quintet, while key figures in the 1950’s were the orchestra conductors Arne Domnérus and Putte Wickman, the baritone saxophonist Lars Gullin, who added jazz and folk music impulses, and the cool jazz pianist Ballberg. Epoch-making was the pianist Jan Johansson, who with the LP Jazz in Swedish (1964) presented folk melodies in subdued jazz harmonic coloring.

The Eje Thelin’s (1938-90) quintet stands as an exponent of 1960’s experimental jazz, while the group EGBA (founded 1971), inspired by African and Cuban music, reflects jazz’s later approaches to rock, Latin American music and funk.

Sweden – film

Sweden’s first public film screening took place in 1896 in Malmö, in 1897 the first small fiction films were shot, and in 1904 the first permanent cinema was opened in Stockholm; film censorship was introduced in 1911. In 1907, the first film company, Svenska Biografteatern, was established, from 1909 Svenska Bio, which formed the basis for the establishment of the Swedish Film Industry in 1919, which remains Swedish film’s most important company. The most important directors were Victor Sjöström and Mauritz Stiller, who were also actors, and Georg av Klercker (1877-1951), who left the company and in 1912-18 made a number of visually original films for the company Hasselblad in Gothenburg. The golden age of Swedish film reached a climax with Stiller Herr Arne’s money(1919, Mr. Arne’s money) and Erotikon (1920) and Sjöström’s Körkarlen (1920, The Driver). The interest in film adaptations, especially after Selma Lagerlöf’s books, culminated in Stillers Gösta Berling’s saga (1924). The films attracted a lot of attention abroad and contributed to Sjöström and Stiller coming to Hollywood with Greta Garbo.

The speech film broke through in 1929 with Säg det med toner, and the 1930’s were marked by folk comedies and rural dramas. Gustaf Molander’s artist melodrama Intermezzo (1936) became an international success and brought the female star, Ingrid Bergman, to Hollywood, where the film was re-recorded. In the 1940’s, political and ideological issues broke through. A main character was Alf Sjöberg, who made Hets (1944, Persecuted), with script by Ingmar Bergman, and since Miss Julie (1951, Miss Julie) after Strindberg. Among the new directors of the period were the politically engaged Hampe Faustman (1919-61) and Arne Mattsson with the sexually liberated She danced a summer (1951, She danced a summer night). After his breakthrough in 1949 and a number of masterpieces in the 1950’s, including Smultronstället (1957, At the End of the Road), however, Bergman became Swedish film’s most dominant figure.

The Swedish Film Institute was established in 1963, and in the 1960’s a new generation of directors created everyday, politically engaged films in the style of the French New Wave. The main characters were Bo Widerberg, Jan Troell and Vilgot Sjöman, but Bergman remained a central figure, among others. with modernist and psychologically intense films.

The partner couple Hans Alfredson and Tage Danielsson renewed the farce with The Apple War (1971, The Apple War), while Alfredson alone was responsible for the main work The Simple Murderer (1982, The Simple Murderer). Also popular were Olle Hellbom’s (1925-82) many film adaptations and television versions of Astrid Lindgren’s books. In the 1980’s, Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander (1982), Lasse Hallström’s (b. 1946) My Life as a Dog (1985), which gave him a career in the United States, and Suzanne Ostens’ (b. 1944) satirical comedy Bröderna Mozart (1986, Brødrene Mozart). From the 1990’s, mention may be made of films such as the hometown comedy Änglagård (1992, Englegård) by the Englishman Colin Nutley (b. 1944), the family drama The Good Will (1992, The Good Will) by the Dane Bille August written by Bergman and the thriller Jägarna (1996, The Hunters) by Kjell Sundvall (b. 1953); however, the period also featured major works such as Troells Hamsun (1996) and Widerbergs Lust och fägring stor (1995, Lærerinden), both partly Danish-produced. Since the late 1990’s, a new generation of instructors has gained international attention; Among other things, Lukas Moodysson with the teenage portrayalFucking Åmål (1998) and Lilja 4-ever (2002), about sex slavery, and Josef Fares (b. 1977) with the immigrant comedy Jalla! Jalla! (2000). The resident of the welfare state is handed out through gloomy humor in Roy Andersson’s formalist Sångar från andra våningan (2000, Sange fra anden sal) and the satire group Killinggängets Fyra nuanser av brunt (2004).

Among Swedish documentary filmmakers, the nature painter Arne Sucksdorff (1917-2001) and the socially committed Stefan Jarl (b. 1941) can be highlighted. Since the end of the 1990’s, the Film i Väst initiative has made the town of Trollhättan in Scania the center of a number of Swedish and Danish film productions, including Lars von Triers Dogville (2003).

Sweden – sports

The sports movement in Sweden has approximately 3 mio. members and is thus the country’s largest popular movement. Stockholm hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1912 and the equestrian events of the Olympic Games 1956. Helsinki has since 1925 alternately in Stockholm and now also Gothenburg held, Finn battle, the annual athletics landscape between Sweden and Finland.

Several Swedish skiers have reached the world elite. Ingemar Stenmark won 86 World Cup slalom races through the 1970’s and 1980’s, when cross-country skiers Thomas Wassberg (b. 1956) and Gunde Svan also dominated. They were worthy heirs after Sixten Jernberg’s reign with four Olympic gold medals 1956-64. For both elite and exercisers, the 90 km long Vasaloppet is held every year. In addition to skiing, ice hockey and football are Sweden’s most popular sports. The ice hockey team won the World Cup 1953, 1957 and 1962 with the folk hero Sven Tumba (1931-2011) and since then four times as well as the Olympics 1994; in football, Sweden won the 1948 Olympics, 1958 World Cup silver and bronze in 1950 and 1994, and the national handball team is also among the world elite. Carolina Klüft (b. 1983) was one of the world’s best all-round athletes with World Cup gold in 2003, 2005 and 2007 as well as Olympic gold in 2004 in sevens. However, the Swedish international stars have created the most international attention. After Björn Borg in the 1970’s, a number of big names followed, including Mats Wilander. Middle distance runner Gunder Hägg set 161-45 world records in 1941-45, while heavyweight boxer Ingemar Johansson (1932-2009) gained world attention with the World Cup victory over the American Floyd Patterson in 1959.

Sweden – kitchen

Sweden’s food culture shows clear regional differences. North of the Great Lakes economy was traditionally based on cattle and goat breeding by fäbodsväsen (sæterdrift) as well as on fishing, hunting and gathering wild berries and mushrooms. Barley was the only grain, and unfermented flatbread (a kind of flatbread) was the only bread. Butter and cheese were commodities and party food. Salmon and herring were preserved by salting and sour fermentation (surströmming). The Sami kitchen was closely linked to purebred breeding and still does.

Further south, sourdough-fermented, hard and long-lasting rye bread dominated, whose thinner and later variant is knäckebröd. Baking was done a few times a year, which was related to the use of seasonal watermills. Salted pork was the backbone of the farmers’ diet, salt herring and herring in the rural proletariat.

With the widespread grain breeding, Scania had its own food profile; porridge, which in the rest of Sweden was a feast, was here everyday food. The presence of windmills resulted in a regular meal supply, so you could bake often and eat fresh bread, eg loaves.

With the hometown movement from the 1800’s. landscape dishes such as Øland body cakes and Scanian spettkaka emerged. The stove and the meat mincer made it possible from approximately 1850 a number of dishes, which now belong to “home cooking”: meat buns, cabbage dolma, beef a la Lindström and herring buns. The lute fish for Christmas and Easter has roots in medieval fasting. In the late 1800’s. the custom of holding a crayfish feast arose, and Sweden is the world’s only significant importer of crayfish.

Swedish cuisine has for centuries received strong influences from foreign cuisines. Nevertheless, it has retained a fine utilization of peculiar raw materials: freshwater fish such as perch, pikeperch, whole and pike, mushrooms such as Karl Johan and morels, berries such as blackberries, blueberries, cloudberries and cranberries and wild birds from the north such as harp, grouse, bull and bird. The lush culture around herring and herring is especially expressed in the smorgasbord, which is a buffet such as the Danish Christmas lunch table.